Contribution to EC Consultation on the Digital Distribution of Audiovisual Works in the EU
The European Commission is currently reviewing its strategy in relation to the digital distribution of films and television programmes in the European Union. In a nutshell, it has consulted stakeholders on a range of issues with the goal to promote the competitiveness of Europe’s audiovisual industries, the emergence of a single market for EU works and consumers’ access to culturally diverse content.
UNIC fully supports these ambitions but feels that the related EC position paper on the challenges ahead represents a slightly skewed perception of the economic realities of the European film industry. In its position paper UNIC therefore re-introduces some of the fundamentals of film distribution in Europe and argues that a robust and exclusive theatrical window ultimately benefits all stakeholders along the film value chain.